SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea's communist regime has warned of a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula while vowing to step up its atomic bomb-making program in defiance of new U.N. sanctions.

The North's defiance presents a growing diplomatic headache for President Barack Obama as he prepares for talks Tuesday with his South Korean counterpart on the North's missile and nuclear programs.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told security-related ministers during an unscheduled meeting Sunday to "resolutely and squarely" cope with the North's latest threat, his office said. Lee is to leave for the U.S. on Monday morning.

A commentary Sunday in the North's main state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, claimed the U.S. has 1,000 nuclear weapons in South Korea. Another commentary published Saturday in the state-run Tongil Sinbo weekly claimed the U.S. has been deploying a vast amount of nuclear weapons in South Korea and Japan.

North Korea "is completely within the range of U.S. nuclear attack and the Korean peninsula is becoming an area where the chances of a nuclear war are the highest in the world," the Tongil Sinbo commentary said.

Kim Yong-kyu, a spokesman at the U.S. military command in Seoul, called the latest accusation "baseless," saying Washington has no nuclear bombs in South Korea. U.S. tactical nuclear weapons were removed from South Korea in 1991 as part of arms reductions following the Cold War.

South Korea's Unification Ministry issued a statement Sunday demanding the North stop stoking tension, abandon its nuclear weapons and return to dialogue with the South.

On Saturday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry threatened war on any country that dared to stop its ships on the high seas under the new sanctions approved by the U.N. Security Council on Friday as punishment for the North's latest nuclear test.

It is not clear if the statements are simply rhetorical. Still, they are a huge setback for international attempts to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions following its second nuclear test on May 25. It first tested a nuclear device in 2006.

In Saturday's statement, North Korea said it has been enriching uranium to provide fuel for its light-water reactor. It was the first public acknowledgment the North is running a uranium enrichment program in addition to its known plutonium-based program. The two radioactive materials are key ingredients in making atomic bombs.

On Sunday, Yonhap news agency reported South Korea and the U.S. have mobilized spy satellites, reconnaissance aircraft and human intelligence networks to obtain evidence that the North has been running a uranium enrichment program.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the report. The National Intelligence Service — South Korea's main spy agency — was not available for comment.

North Korea said more than one-third of 8,000 spent fuel rods in its possession has been reprocessed and all the plutonium extracted would be used to make atomic bombs. The country could harvest 13-18 pounds (6-8 kilograms) of plutonium — enough to make at least one nuclear bomb — if all the rods are reprocessed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090614/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_nuclear

PoliCon

06-14-2009, 02:15 PM

It's time to take the head off this snake . . . .

megimoo

06-14-2009, 03:30 PM

It's time to take the head off this snake . . . .We have a 'Boomber' right off shore .A single 'D5' with eight warheads would make an awfull mess of that country !

PoliCon

06-15-2009, 12:29 AM

We have a 'Boomber' right off shore .A single 'D5' with eight warheads would make an awfull mess of that country !

Do you not understand the concept of taking the HEAD off a snake??? Blowing the hill to smithereens to kill a snake is just plain stupid.

megimoo

06-15-2009, 12:31 AM

Do you not understand the concept of taking the HEAD off a snake??? Blowing the hill to smithereens to kill a snake is just plain stupid.Are you sugesting that we go in there and kill the little gooney guy with our bare hands !

Rockntractor

06-15-2009, 12:37 AM

As long as China is protecting North Korea we will do nothing. Obama doesn't have the backbone. North Korea is going to overstep the boundaries China has placed on them and China will deal with them.

PoliCon

06-15-2009, 12:43 AM

Are you sugesting that we go in there and kill the little gooney guy with our bare hands !

I'm saying a surgical strike is what is called for. Kill him - not the people.

Rockntractor

06-15-2009, 12:50 AM

I'm saying a surgical strike is what is called for. Kill him - not the people.
I wonder if he has a half a dozen decoys like suddam did.

linda22003

06-15-2009, 10:47 AM

"You Stoppa Our Ships We Blowupa You House !"

Koreans speak with fake Italian accents? I had no idea.

Rockntractor

06-15-2009, 10:50 AM

"You Stoppa Our Ships We Blowupa You House !"

Koreans speak with fake Italian accents? I had no idea.
The leader has read to many frozen pizza boxes.

megimoo

06-15-2009, 11:42 AM

I'm saying a surgical strike is what is called for. Kill him - not the people.
OK Ace, you swing the chopper and chop off its head !